When operating an aircraft, great care must be taken to avoid hazards that would jeopardize the safety of the aircraft. To ensure safe aircraft operation, various agencies have established separation requirements, which are predetermined distances an aircraft must maintain from given hazards. The current method of maintaining separation between an aircraft and potential hazards is twofold. First, the flight crew is expected to perform a “see and avoid” function where the crew members maintain awareness of the aircraft situation by looking out of the aircraft windows and then taking appropriate action to avoid hazards. Secondly, a set of warning systems is installed on the aircraft, such as ground proximity warning systems (GPWS), traffic collision and avoidance systems (TCAS), and weather radar (WXR) to provide a caution or warning when it appears that the aircraft is in close proximity to a hazard.
There are three significant issues with the current separation model. First, the current model does not extend well to low-visibility conditions when the flight crew cannot maintain adequate situational awareness by looking out the windows. Second, the airborne warning systems typically do not provide a caution or warning until a potential accident is imminent. An imminent warning leaves little time for the flight crew to respond. In addition, the cautions and warnings of the current model are based upon explicit algorithms which are defined by industry committees. The algorithms may not be capable of handling or processing all flight conditions. Third, the airborne warning systems do not act in a coordinated fashion. The terrain warning system has no knowledge of weather or traffic; the traffic warning system has no knowledge of weather or terrain; and the weather warning system has no knowledge of terrain or traffic.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a hazard warning system that combines or integrates information from multiple warning systems.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a hazard warning system that reduces or eliminates false warnings.
It is another object of the invention to provide a hazard warning system that provides sufficient time for a pilot or flight crew to adjust the path of an aircraft.
A feature of the invention is an integrated hazard warning system that accepts inputs from a plurality of sources and determines a possibility of a hazardous situation based at least in part on the aircraft's ability to avoid the hazardous situation.
An advantage of the invention is that an advisory is communicated to the pilot or flight crew with sufficient time to avoid the hazardous situation.